The answer to whether Israel should exist is unmistakably and unequivocally yes. Israel should exist and has every right to exist. May it thrive and prosper like few other nations in history. Unlike many others who take a stand on the Israeli solution, I think too many posture and pontificate without having anything at risk in the debate. As a leader of a people – the Gay community and an elected leader of the FIGS Party – the Free, Independent Gay State Party, I can tell you that the issue is anything but a sterile academic debate when it comes to freedom, independence and the very survival of a people. And unlike so many who take a stand on Israel, I am not among the chorus who say the solution to the Middle East involves the relocation of Israel. As a people, they have all ready been grossly and unjustly wronged.

Having said that, let me be very clear. Any group – any minority that has been wronged, should be made whole and then some. My people, the people of the Gay State for instance, are due for the opportunity to be made whole by the entire international community. It should be made whole and then some. Its conditions deserve to be improved upon as never before. Does it even the score for thousands of years of savage and brutal oppression? No, it doesn’t. It does however, give the oppressors an opportunity to finally do the right thing and make amends for the past injustices they have wrought on the Gay people.

The Israeli’s on the other hand, have been made whole, but they have not yet received their “and then some.” The international community and Israel’s Middle East neighbors in particular, need to atone for the treatment they have foisted on the Israeli people. And in the spirit of equality and fairness, just as the people of the Gay State need to be made whole and then some, Palestinians deserve nothing less in fair and equitable treatment. As any reader of “The Gay State” all ready knows, I do not favor an approach that involves degrees of equality. Even in the most enlightened and progressive nations on Earth, Gays are still very often treated as first class taxpayers and second class citizens. We know that in large swaths of the American landscape, Gays experience nothing short of the internationally regarded “American Gay Apartheid.” This incremental approach to achieving equality is wrong-headed and ultimately doomed to fail.

So what does the international community do to address the Palestinian issue? What would you want if YOU were left to endure a life of squalor and poverty amid a prison-like confinement that batters the human soul? I don’t know of one Israeli family that would trade places with a Palestinian family. The Palestinians need to be treated – deserve to be treated humanely. No one – Gay, Israeli, American, nor any other people would want the unspeakable conditions forced on the Palestinians to fall upon them. The disgust is how the international community merely turns a blind eye to their unimaginable suffering. This is a war for justice and humanity and as always in these wars, few heed the sense of urgency. Toward this end, the Palestinians need to be made whole and then some. Every day that the world hesitates in solving this dilemma, more extremists and more terrorists are created. This writer says slash a portion of the revenue pumped into the military industrial complex and instead spend the money building bridges, enhancing communities and lifting children up to a place where they can see a brighter future for themselves.

The issue in most practical terms, boils down to land and freedom. The land will not be land taken from Israel. This is clear, obvious and non-negotiable. The people of Israel have all ready been sufficiently wronged by international powers who have made a colossal mess of things. Instead, the land for the Palestinians will be land bought and paid for by the international community. How many billions of dollars will the international community invest to solve one of the world’s great injustices and in the process bring true and lasting peace to the Middle East? Conversely, which nation is willing to step up and be willing to cede a portion of its land for a very handsome price? Jordan? Egypt? Syria? Or perhaps somewhere a bit more exotic; Libya, Iraq or Saudi Arabia for example? Some say the Palestinians, like old prisoners, do not easily leave their cells. They will not go quietly from their ancestral homeland. Like countless others who left their homeland to provide a better life for their children and like so many American’s who have no sense of place, it is now the Palestinians who need to relocate to offer a fresh start for its families and a brighter future for its children. The Irish nearly emptied their homeland a century ago in search of a new start. At this moment, the citizens of Nauru and Kiribati are leaving their homelands in droves to make a new start as their homelands sink into the Pacific. Many more nations will face similar fates in the years to come. Similarly, the Palestinians need to exit the refugee squatter camps they call home and build something new and grander than they have ever had. Beautiful homes, excellent schools, modern healthcare and employment awaits the Palestinians in their new homeland. There is no shame in starting over. Doing so may be the unique American optimism but conditions may well prove to be better than ever before.

There was a time in the late 1800’s when the location of a future Jewish State was considered in far-away Argentina or even the Orient. Had the Jewish State followed through on Theodor Herzl’s concept, they might not be in the Middle-East and the world would not find itself in such dreary circumstances. An infrastructure should be built and the Palestinian’s given a chance to prosper according to their own drive and merit. This is a new beginning that will vastly improve the quality of life for the Palestinian people for generations to come. For example, for the people of the Gay State, we want nothing more than the politically autonomous territory where we can be left to live in peace and to live according to our ability and drive. If we as a people should utterly fail, we have no one to blame but ourselves. The Palestinians deserve nothing less. Palestinian parents will finally be able to provide their children with safety, freedom, modern conveniences, a sense of peace and liberty, and the ability to allow their children to grow up and experience the joy and prosperity we all wish for our families.

I think all parties agree the current scenario is unpalatable all the way around. All parties should be made whole and then some. For all of the suffering and past injustices, the international community needs to step up and do the right thing. This might well be the last best chance to secure a lasting peace that could transform the Middle-East.

In the 21st century, is humankind mature enough to realize that some cultures do not blend well with others? That nations around the world subject our Gay citizens to life imprison or sentence them to death because of who we are and who we love is all the evidence the we need. We also surely must admit that humanity is not yet mature enough for diverse societies to coexist within one state. Many claim the Israeli’s should be condemned for their ongoing aggressiveness. Many say the Palestinians are a front for terrorism. For my people, the Gay people, one of our thirteen Gaymandments is forgiveness. We work on forgiving those who continue to attack us, even after Gay people have endured thousands of years of mistreatment. Without forgiveness from both the Israeli’s and the Palestinians, the festering wounds from the ongoing hostility will prevent both sides from reaching a greater and higher plain. Therefore, let us agree to separate, peaceably, fairly for the betterment of all peoples involved. With a free and prosperous Israel, a free and prosperous Palestine, all of humanity can exhale. As for Israel, it should exist and be allowed to thrive in peace. So too should the Palestinians and even the Gay State which I proudly represent.

It’s official. After decades of battling for Gay equality, Hawaii can be written off. This is especially poignant, after years of deluding myself into thinking Hawaii was different. Last night, the announcement was made that Gov. Linda Lingle , a Republican, would not permit the passage of same-sex civil unions in her state, on the grounds it would be too similar to traditional marriage.

Many of you can remember as I do, that Hawaii was the first state to have it’s legislature, more than a decade ago, meet to consider domestic partnerships and civil unions, at a time when no other state had even approached the debate in a serious way. In the end, whether through lack of political will or courage, the government left the fate and freedom of an entire people, in the hands of the voting populace. An overwhelming 60+ percent of the voters struck down the measure. When, I wonder, will collective human consciousness acknowledge this atrocity and make it right? If the federal government of the 1960’s had left the fate and freedom of African-Americans in the hands of the general voters, where would the USA be with it’s human and civil rights record? If the fate and freedom of millions of African-Americans was not left in the hands of the voters, then why is the fate and freedom of millions of Gay-Americans approached differently?

I am very familiar with the Pacific cultures. Generally, as a regional group, they are socially conservative and place profound importance on family bonds and children. In many Pacific nations, the very existence of Gays is outlawed and can result in harsh criminal penalties.

Many Hawaiians like to refer to themselves as “cosmopolitan.” It is a reference to a varied ethnic and ancestral heritage. It’s not uncommon to meet someone, who may to an untrained eye, simply be considered or referred to as an “islander,” when in fact, very few people have any traces of Hawaiian in their bloodline. They may be part Samoan, Filipina, Chinese, German and English but by birth in the US, also be American. And as I mentioned earlier, Hawaii remains the only state in the USA where Caucasian European-Americans form only a minority of the population. They do not however, live the lives of a typically oppressed minority. Their power comes more from a base in finances than any other aspect of life.

So why, after all of these years, is Hawaii still impotent in delivering the basic right to its people? The answer is, as is often the case, based in religion.

As the clock ticked away for the Governor to make her decision, thousands of religiously inclined gathered to let their numbers be known. They didn’t protest, they didn’t display any hostility. They simply stood in silence. Some sang hymnals, while reaching upwards towards the Heavens, while every one of them wore white shirts with badges saying “iVote.” The implication of course, is that politicians will face the wrath of the pious if they allow the pro-gay civil unions bill to pass.

So yes, Hawaii has a long tradition of religion. For the many years I kept a home in Hawaii, I had thought to myself thousands of times and openly expressed it nearly as often, that the missionaries that settled into Hawaii a little more than a century ago, have successfully made a colossal mess of things. They tainted the culture and its effects remain to this day.

I have to wonder how Gov. Lingle can sleep at night. The first duty in justice and democracy is to care for those who live their lives on the margins. The majority of Hawaiians had nothing to lose in this fight. Those who will suffer in her inaction will continue to be denied the freedoms of the majority. The message in Hawaii is loud and clear — Gays are NOT free and equal citizens in Hawaii. They can gather as they wish in their private homes, but don’t expect proper society to openly acknowledge they have a place at the human table. Their relationships and the human desire to have a family will not be recognized as valid.

The message is Homosexuals can exist in Hawaii and even prosper to some extent, but no more than their Heterosexual masters are inclined to allow them. The “Cavalcade of Disappointment” has just made another stop and this time, it was in Hawaii. Earlier this year it was Maine and before that, New York.

I no longer conceal my contempt for our oppressors as if it’s a mere disagreement. No. It’s much worse than that. These evil-doers are only the latest perpetrators in a very long history of shunning, belittling and discriminating against my people and our very rights to freedom, liberty, democracy and equality. Another generation of our Gay family is ostracized from fully participating in the human experience. How many more Gays will die never having felt the joy of acceptance? Of belonging? And participating without hiding behind closed curtains not even a sad, distant and haunting memory?

The irony is the shame falls squarely on the non-Gay majority. May God have mercy on Governor Lingle and her soul. I wonder when we are gone, who will they subject to their injustices? When we are living in peace and equality – and enjoying far more liberty “over there” than was ever possible in Hawaii, we will not look back wistfully, for we’ll know what we left behind was inhumane and unworthy of our people.

July 26 (New York) When I speak to a group, even a small group, it is interesting on how quickly tempers flare from those who are quite adamantly opposed to the Gay State concept. Rebuttals are often laced with personal matters as to religion and sometimes from those who are professionally versed in theology. It’s not lost on me how often detractors seek to find ways to denounce the concept or dismiss it as some sort of “Utopian” scheme. Sometimes, but only rarely am asked new questions which after these many years, comes as a surprise. One such question came from a woman who asked me about race.

I can remember her question as if it were yesterday. When I called on her out of a crowd, her question was, “I agree with you on many points, but I wonder at what point, is sexual orientation NOT ENOUGH?” She went on, and I can remember every nuance in her voice, “How would a Gay state treat its people with regard to the importance of race and how would it differentiate on the matter of race?”

I can remember her question so clearly in part, because in retrospect, I am displeased with the response I gave her at the time. It is after all, an issue that requires and deserves a series of discussions and cannot be satisfied with a quick one or two sentence response. The inability of humankind to solve racial tensions has plagued mankind for centuries. I remember I hesitated for a moment, gathering my thoughts and determining which part of the question I should attempt to give a voice to. My answer was insufficient but was as follows: “In terms of how race plays a role in the Gay culture, Asian, Latino, Black or Caucasian, race, I believe, is secondary. Gay people have been oppressed in nations of every color.” It wasn’t an intentionally malicious effort to avoid the topic more fully. The answer was insufficient and I skirted the key aspect of race in culture. I have often wished I had the opportunity to address this particular issue for this woman.

The importance of race. And how would the Gay state treat its people with regard to the importance of race and how would it differentiate on the matter of race…

To be blunt, I suggest… the short answer is no. No, I would demand that the Gay State endeavour to become the world’s first post-racial society. On the contrary, THERE SHOULD BE NO IMPORTANCE PUT ON THE ASPECT OF RACE. A man should not be known as the Black Gay. A womyn should not be classified as the Latina Lesbian. We are all citizens of the Gay state. And to this question, let me ask in return, what good has ever come from putting importance on race? Where has emphasizing our differences gotten us in this world? In our new country, the derogatory references to someone’s race can finally be stricken from civilized society. Fueling racial hatred and intolerance is destructive to society in general and batters ones soul, just as when Gays are shunned and bullied based on sexual orientation. On the contrary, instead of emphasizing the importance of race, I say we should seek to marginalize racial differences. What better way to remove racism into the trash bin of history, than to give it no significance?

Too many people have not been exposed to a variety of cultures. Too many people have lived their own small lives and to their own detriment, surrounded only by people who look like themselves and believe in the same set of values. We need to increase the acceptance of diversity, not drive people into the emotional and mental illness that is ethnocentrism. For all the years of my life I have been a part of a minority population that did not always by necessity bear the brunt of hatred. As a boy and as a young man, I could hide my Gayness in a way people of color cannot and therefore I could blend in with the Heterosexuals if need be. No one was the wiser, except me. Obviously, many people of various racial make-up do not have that opportunity, as ill-conceived as it is.

It is human nature that we endeavour to put people in boxes. Humans like to categorize one another so they can determine which cavalcade of stereotypes can be heaped upon the individual. Another ill-conceived category that can be used to someone’s detriment is regionalism. I have spent years of my life living in communities where I have also been a racial minority. In the United States, I lived in the only state where Caucasians are a minority – Hawaii. When Asians are grouped as one, they significantly outnumber European-Americans. And I witnessed and experienced what’s commonly referred to as reversed racism. In the islands, many “locals;” meaning those of Asian descent think that a Caucasian will never and can never be a “local,” even if born and raised in Hawaii. I would venture to say that most Caucasians in Hawaii have at one time or another been referred to as a “Haole.” The word was originally used to refer to someone as a “foreigner” or as a “stranger” not of the land. Yet in popular culture, especially among the younger generation, Haole is derogatory for whitey. It is never used in a positive light. It is another example of provincialism that is embedded in geographic isolation. With a certain tone under some circumstances, it is meant to offend much in the same manner some people still use the “N’ word. In my estimation, this is an ill-intended byproduct of placing an importance on race. If screaming “fire!” in a crowded theatre is against the law, so should the use of words that are intended as weapons to endanger another. What useful purpose comes from disparaging or damaging another person by using such language? These examples do not infringe on free speech issues but should be stricken from use.

Some have said that I am guilty of the same generalizations by exposing those who commit the act. I disagree that exposing those guilty of drawing “first blood” renders us just as guilty. Placing importance on race remains in the 21st century, one of the world’s most egregious examples of provincialism. It is pitifully small-minded, by my thinking. In our new Gay State, with citizens from every existing nation on Earth, we want to dissolve our differences and in the process, build bridges to one another. Placing importance on race (particularly with negative connotations) only results in dividing us based on our differences and thus is not helpful.

It is a fact that the global Gay community suffers from having the scourge of racism within its own ranks. Today it is a sad fact that the global Gay community is itself tainted by this insidious blight of racism that is found in every part of the world. Non-Gay nations, which is to say EVERY nation on this Earth, give in to the weaknesses of the human mind and let divisions by race overpower society. We in our new Gay State will do things differently. We in the new Gay State will all have witnessed, lived and have known the damages of being the “odd man out,” the wasteful act of diminishing another living soul based on discrimination. In our new home, this defect of racism based on intolerance and ethnocentrism will be stopped at the border.

Like Hawaii and like the planet as a whole, Caucasians in the Gay State will not have a majority status. In order of racial population, particularly for full-time residents, we would expect Asians and Africans to be dominant population groups with Latin, Caucasian and other minorities also making a significant representation. Part-time and seasonal residents would come from more economically advanced nations and as a result would expect to see more North Americans and Europeans. Vacationers will pour in from every corner of the world.

Most of the people of the world would probably expect that in America, the most racially divisive region with the most hostile and blatant racism is in the southern United States. This is not to suggest that vile racism does not exist in all 50 states. These are historic generalities and people from the region may argue based on individual merit that they do not fit the label and rightfully so. Such intolerance and hatred is often a result of ignorance and southerner’s were not historically the region of the United States that placed the most emphasis on education and cultural diversity for the general populace. Provincialism rears its ugly head in places such as this.

For a number or years I became intimately acquainted with Charleston, South Carolina. It is an architecturally beautiful city, with a history based on slaves and barbaric and brutal racial oppression. This was a city that had achieved great wealth by profiting on the blood, sweat and wholesale trade and bondage of an entire race of people. The hatred and intolerance of Charlestonian’s however, didn’t end with racism. For generations, they have expressed hatred for fellow American’s with northern roots. Charleston, SC, where the American Civil War began, where their heinous acts of treason and terrorism by these southern separatists resulted in the killing of hundreds of thousands of innocent Americans; where hundreds of thousands of more Americans were killed trying to hold the Union together and these people of the south, even today in shocking numbers, dare to express a dislike for US citizens from the north. I am quicker to pardon the southerner’s who actually participated in the War Between the States, as their ignorance and economic dependency prevented them from truly understanding the scope of what they were doing. I am far less charitable towards the southerners of today who do not admit their shame and embarrassment for the actions of their forefathers. They should be on their knees, for the sins of their families, begging forgiveness from their fellow American’s for all of the horrors they brought to the United States. Most American’s from every corner of the nation have forgiven the acts of the south for betraying the U.S. and in fact, committing the greatest act of mass murder in US history. In acknowledging their wrong-doing, I am not perpetuating the continuing ill-will towards the south. As a people they should be forgiven and collectively as a people we should move on.

In the time that I lived in Charleston and travelled extensively throughout the south, I can’t tell you the number of times I was referred to as a “Yankee.” When I was referred to as a Yankee, it was not to honor me for the bloodshed of my forefathers who fought to keep our nation together. I was not called a Yankee because I was being honored for so many from my region of the US who gave their lives to free a whole race of people. They referred to me as a Yankee as if it was a bad thing. And in doing so, their pathetic provincialism again rose to the surface. The entire world calls all Americans “Yankees.” Yes, to the greater world, far beyond the provincialism of the southern U.S. and small-minded way of life, southerners are considered Yankees too!

This is to illustrate the damage that is done when society allows or even encourages people to emphasize our differences more than our similarities. My experiences in life, as a Caucasian in an Asian culture, as a Northerner in the South, as an American in foreign lands, I cannot believe that separating people by race, treating them differently or bestowing upon them “special rights” based on racial status, RARELY IF EVER results in something good.

In conclusion, we will continue to acknowledge the ways we as a Gay society have made positive achievements. We will promote the positive attributes of all of our people and aggressively encourage all of our new citizens to leave the negative connotations that attach themselves to racial identities behind in their lands of birth. I remember the words of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. He said “In the beginning, we all may have come on different ships, but we are in the same boat now.” Together. As one. Let us wash away all of the identities attached to race and racism and celebrate our Gay humanity. One people coming together as one in our new Gay nation. It remains true that like the larger international world, the global Gay community suffers from having the scourge of racism within its ranks. Today it is a sad fact that the global Gay community is itself tainted by this insidious blight of racism that is found in every part of the world. Non-Gay nations, which is to say EVERY nation on this Earth, give in to the weaknesses of the human mind and let divisions and divisions by race overpower society. We in our new Gay State will do things differently. We in the new Gay State will have known the damages of being the “odd man out,” the waste of diminishing another living soul based on discrimination. In our new home, this defect of racism based on intolerance and ethnocentrism will be stopped at the border.

The history of Gay America has been forced to remain mostly hidden from view, ever since Columbus and his merry band of intrepid adventurers: some arguably the first Gay Europeans to land, first arrived over 500 years ago. The society of Man has of course progressed over time, as have Gay Americans. But because there are Gay television characters, Gay radio stations, Gay film and Gay publishing, all in the realm of popular culture, do not overestimate the degree that Gay citizens are able to celebrate freedom and liberty in the United States.

If the reader is old enough to read this, then the reader understands that Gay Americans have waited all of their lives for the chance to marry and have a family and remain today, denied this right. In short, denied being a part of the American Dream. In the last several years, as media frenzy would hype any progress in the Gay marriage movement, both for and against, something happened in America. For the first time in US history, amendments were passed in state constitutions to disenfranchise a certain class of citizen. State after state amended their constitutions to deny Gay American citizen the rights afforded to all other full humans and thus denied Gays and Lesbians the right to marry and raise a family.

Most recently a number of states legalized Gay marriage through actions of the judicial and legislative branches. As the joyous exultations of “free at last!” rang out from Gay America, the laws were repealed, almost overnight, struck down or vetoed by a referendum and popular vote. Marriage licenses that had been framed and proudly hung in family rooms across America were suddenly worthless and a cruel reminder that hard-fought freedom in America can be snatched away at any moment if you don’t win the favor of the ruling majority. Maine, California and marriages in New York are the most glaring examples.

Currently, only five states allow same-sex marriages which are frankly, more ceremonial than substantive. Since the federal government refuses to acknowledge these “unions” as marriages, they are, in the eyes of the US federal government, of little meaning or consequence.

Current realities as painful as they are, offer three views that Gay Americans can either embrace or simply endure:

1.The first is to accept the harsh reality that they live under the oppressive policy of a system known as American Gay Apartheid. It is incredulous but true that while they may be first class tax payers, with incomes and education levels above the US averages, they know they have forever been second class citizens and will remain so. Millions of Gay Americans have died while in service to their country or simply from old age, never to know the freedom of the majority. The heterosexual masters continue to allow Gay Americans only as much freedom and rights as they are so inclined to offer. The policy that same-sex couples cannot marry and have a family speaks volumes that Gays remain unworthy and less than fully human in the eyes of the majority. Conversely, a heterosexual male could have served prison time for murder, abandoned his children, beat his last three wives and is still free to marry a fourth, fifth or even sixth time. Rarely if ever does one hear politicians and clergy preach about the “sanctity of marriage” when it comes to a heterosexual making a shameful mockery out of one of mankind’s greatest blessings. The phrase is reserved almost exclusively for the shunning and belittling of Gay love.

2. There is only one way the federal government allows Gay people to marry and receive all the rights and privileges of the heterosexual majority. In order to receive the American governments blessing and approval in this “land of liberty,” the U.S. government forces one of the Gay partners to undergo a sexual reassignment surgery. Through the painful, psychological trauma and physically altering process, one of the partners must have his or her genitalia surgically removed and replaced with that of the opposite sex.

As archaic as this forced sexual reassignment sounds, it is a solution in the eyes of the U.S. Government. However, elderly men and women and the infirm, for example, who have lost the use of their sexual organs remain Gay or non-Gay. Paraplegics who may have no sexual function remain Gay or non-Gay, according to their orientation. The surgery doesn’t change orientation. Only the U.S. lawmakers fail to recognize that the primary stimulant for sex is between the ears and not between the legs.

One New York couple is preparing a lawsuit against the federal government for allegedly forcing this couple to undergo sexual reassignment surgery so that they may marry, have a family and enjoy the fruits of America’s freedom and liberty. This couple, who has requested anonymity, is currently preparing for the medical procedure.

3. The third and final answer requires Gay Americans to live a lie in order to be granted the American Dream. Experienced from a life of being shunned and living secretly behind closed curtains, Gay Americans might find this as the only viable option to happiness. Gay American patriots, who were forced to live a lie to serve their country can best understand how to maneuver this successfully.

This alternative requires one of the marriage partners to fraudulently assume the identity of the opposite sex. If they lie sufficiently well and often enough, they can marry as husband and wife, adopt children, raise a family, pay their taxes, take their IRS deductions and when one of the spouses is deceased, the other is eligible for Social Security benefits to sustain the family in a time of grief and sorrow. Hollywood film-maker Ken del Vecchio is producing An Affirmative Act, directed by Jana Mattioli, about two New Jersey Lesbians charged with fraud for misrepresenting themselves, one as a man, but both complicit in the fraud. The cast of Oscar, Tony and Emmy winners is creating substantial buzz on a film that will premiere at the Hoboken Film Festival in June. Should the U.S. government sentence two people, forced to a lifetime of lying and deceit when they live in a nation surrounded by tens of millions of other couples who do not have to pay such a heavy price?

To be sure, full and unfettered liberty and freedom in America is reserved for the non-Gay heterosexual majority. Today, Gay Americans must choose: accept a life under the system of Gay Apartheid, undergo a required sexual reassignment surgery, or commit fraud and break the laws of the United States. If Gay Americans are truly devoted to marriage, these are the only choices in the U.S. that currently won’t be snatched away in the dark of the night. In time the laws may offer Gay equality, but the terror that the global Gay community has endured for 3,000 years prevents a giddy exuberance about the future. Only time will tell how much longer America will fail to live up to its ideals of freedom, liberty and equality.

American Garrett Graham, author of “The Gay State: The Quest For An Independent Gay Nation-State And What It Means For Conservatives And The World’s Religions,” is a university lecturer, Gay nationalist and international Gay equality activist.

The dirty business of protecting a nation’s “national interest” reaches outlandish and obscene measures when the nation is the United States of America. Like a psychologically unstable child the U.S. Government continues to move in wrongheaded directions as if bent on intentionally hurting itself. Adamant about lashing out as if to display its might, America is seemingly unable to stop itself from inflicting the pain that only worsens the conditions for the once mighty USA.

With hundreds of thousands dead and wounded in Iraq, is anyone still waiting for the Iraqi citizens to send us off with hugs, kisses and fond farewells?

The American military, and it must be said they were following orders, have successfully destroyed most parts of Afghanistan that weren’t already living in the stone age.

Like bullies, the U.S. only picks on weaker and militarily inferior nations to kick around. Government officials have been huffing and puffing about North Korea since the Clinton Administration, but we don’t dare show our might there. No siree. And Iran will likewise pose a far greater threat to the world, but we let them continue on the nuclear path afraid to take a stand.

But Yemen, look out! And Somalia, we’re gonna getcha! And Ethiopia, the U.S. should be able to whip them too without too much trouble. Many other examples of the mighty “Shock and Awe” await the impoverished third world. Won’t the entire planet be impressed as America systematically goes about creating another generation of men hell-bent on getting their revenge.

It would seem the arrogance and entitlement is so embedded in the many layers of the United States Government, there’s probably not a one of them currently in service that would agree with my thinking that they are going about it in entirely the wrong way. Osama must be pissing his pants from laughter and knowing that America is doing his job for him, creating all the recruits he’ll ever need in his lifetime.

Meanwhile and notice that you will never hear any of the talking heads say it on MSNBC, CNN or Fox News, but the truth is, if you look at the curve, Osama has been winning and the trend continues in his favor. The United States is playing directly into this hands, fighting a war the superpower cannot win. Sadly, Iraq will eventually collapse, the American military had better stay in Afghanistan for the next decade and slowly bleed itself dry or get out now; and we know the arrogance prevents it from getting the hell out now.

Wars are fought with blood and treasure. We will continue to send our men and women to die overseas; in essence, “feed the beast” the flesh of our men and women to keep it off of our doorstep. And as for treasure, I suspect the United States will cement its fate and its eventual decline in the world. The end would have come sooner or later barring external events but the multiple wars and endless amount of defense spending will only hasten the demise of a once respected and admired nation. How ironic that we have wasted untold resources building up other nations, so that wealthy multinational corporations would have markets to sell to. And now, these same nations thumb their noses (to put it politely) at the U.S.

When it is all said and done, America will look up, exhausted from constant war and bloodshed and attacks on the homeland with weary eyes and a demoralized populace. And what they’ll see is a world that has simply marched on without them. I meet so many internationalists who consider the U.S. to be irrelevant and this will only grow.

It is sad. And as I’ve said before in other posts, when America is officially toppled off of its pedestal as it is inevitable, the world will one day mourn our passing. Americans will look dazed and wonder how it happened. If only they could see what they are doing to themselves.

I wouldn’t want to be one of the nations the United States sets its sites on. There isn’t another country on Earth better skilled in killing on a massive scale. Millions of Gay Americans are treated as second class citizens from their own country, not even being allowed to marry. We are treated as “less than” by our Heterosexual masters. And the U.S. Government can destroy anyone who dares to speak against it, which is why there are so few criticisms. It all could have been so different. As a wealthy and powerful nation, the United States had a rare option to follow a different course. It failed to seek a new way and in doing so, sealed its own fate.

In my life I have witnessed the swinging of the pendulum more times than I care to admit. We gain some rights in our quest for Gay Equality and then we suffer setbacks. I can remember President Clinton planning one of his first Executive Orders to call for allowing Gays to serve openly in the US Military. Now 17 years later, in order to serve our country with “honor” we must continue to live a lie about who we are as human beings.

Still in 2009, after David Mixner called on all of us to rally at the U.S. Capitol, our prospects look brighter for Gay Equality than I call recall in my lifetime. Meanwhile in the parallel universe of “Mainstream America,” life goes on in ways that diminish Gays as less than full citizens.

Which brings me to one uneducated, unenlightened, anti-Gayite by the name of Buju Banton, a Jamaican who makes a nice living playing to sold out concert halls across America. It’s not news to most of you reading these words that he has entitled his concert tour as the “Kill The Gays” Tour. A rabid Homophobe he proudly proclaims to his audiences that “there is no end to the war between me and the faggots.” His hate inspired lyrics include the passive suggestions of pouring acid on Gays, to “burn them up bad, like an old wheel tire.” He goes on to sing about how “faggots get up and run” when Buju comes, that “they have to die,” and describes how to shoot Gays dead in the head with a submachine gun.

Initially, many venues cancelled his performance and TicketMaster pulled out of its agreement with the “Kill The Gays” Tour. Since then, many other, independent venues have come forward so that Buju’s followers could assemble to listen to his live, hated-inspired music. And I am not surprised the ticket sales have been brisk. Concerts have been cancelled but many others have sold out, including in San Francisco’s Bay Area. “It is insulting and offensive that here in San Francisco, one of the Gayest cities in the world, we have to tolerate having this hate shoved down our throats under the guise of the First Amendment, right here in our own city” said one protester outside the concert. “Hate speech like this and like Gangsta Rap, ought to be illegal. How does it contribute to a healthy peaceful society?” an unidentified protestor added.

Tonight, The Buju Banton Hate Fest moves on to the Sunshine State with performances scheduled for Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville.

Keep in mind as we celebrate our “victories” that should produce results in Washington, DC “any day now,” victims of Gay Bashings are still beaten and in hospitals and mobs gather to celebrate our oppression.

Yes, the pendulum. It continues to swing. And each time it does, I am less jubilant in the good times, for I understand what is just around the corner.

The Takeaway: Even in the USA, we are only free to the extent that our oppressors allow us to be.

And in The Gay State: We are free and equal and do not rely on non-Gay Heterosexual masters to tell us when we can have some freedom and how much we will be tolerated. Hard earned freedom is ours and we have proclaimed it!